


they won't see me run, who can blame them?

by no_mourners_no_funerals



Series: no mourners no funerals [1]
Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Crooked Kingdom Spoilers, F/M, Just A Little Fic, M/M, Names, One Shot, Wraith, during crooked kingdom, inej thinking, inej thinking about life, just a little memory trip, kind of, more like just wondering, or shortly after, the same name can sound different coming from different people's mouths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 18:35:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18816670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/no_mourners_no_funerals/pseuds/no_mourners_no_funerals
Summary: Inej muses about her alias and how different it sounds from different people's lips.





	they won't see me run, who can blame them?

She was the Wraith. The best spider in Ketterdam. Thief of secrets. A way to survive. That was true. 

But the Wraith was something quite different for each and every person that heard of her. She heard that in the way they spoke of her.

Dunyasha, the White Blade, said the name as a kind of a taunting challenge. As if she wasn't supposed to be a person, but a ghost, a ghost who should have been harder to beat. Another legend who really was just human. And look where it got her. To a quiet end as another crooked body on Ketterdam's streets.

Other gangs treated the Wraith in one of the two ways. Some saw her as a monster in the shadows, just waiting to slip their secrets to the infamous Dirtyhands and condemn them forever, as something hellish, unnatural. They spoke of the Wraith as something to be wary of, to be _afraid_ of. She based on that reputation. Others, though, tend to see her as a little girl playing assassin and thinking she was smarter than them. They said "oh yes, the infamous _Wraith_ , I bet she's not even half as good as they say". These ones underestimated her. And that was their mistake - they often ended with a knife in their guts and their friends joining the first group.

There were also the people that knew she was dangerous, but disrespected her because "she did Kaz's dirty work". She either beat them up or, rarely, ignored them. The full of disdain "Wraith" in their tones was laced with a good dose of respect when they heard of the results of her work.

Her friends spoke of the Wraith with pride of her, that she managed so much in so little time. With pride that she's feared and respected. Jesper tend to do that. "Our Wraith, the best spy in Ketterdam," he said sometimes.

And then there was Kaz.

Kaz, the broken boy, driven by a vengeful force to avenge his brother's death. The feared and vicious Dirtyhands who she'd grown to care for, more than she ever should. The one who freed her, helped her, taught her the life in the Barrel, refused to be the one who marked her again, bought out her contract with Per Haskell, rescued her from Van Eck, saved her life when she was stabbed by Oomen, infuriated her to no end, tried to overcome his trauma for her. He was the one to create the Wraith myth with her. He used it very often, but not for disrespect and not with fear or a challenge. He said it with a formal stiffness when it came to business, when she was a spy, walking the rooftop landscape of her city. His tone was softer when they spoke casually, bantering over buying him a new hat, criticising his haircut or her saints. He also had a special "Wraith" when he unknowingly let his guard down and needed something to quickly put it up. It was sharp and cold and used to happen rarely now, after he told her about his brother. She didn't really blame him for these moments though. He needed time. There was one "Wraith" she never got to hear though, but Wylan once told her. About what happened to Oomen. He described the vicious fury in Kaz's voice coming from worry for her life.

But when he decided to open himself up a bit, they weren't Dirtyhands and the Wraith.

They were Kaz and Inej, two people tossed around by fate, but grounded around each other.


End file.
